Lucy Allan with her daughters Lola (bottom) and Amber-Rose next to the tram line (Image: CALLUM MOFFAT:ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)

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FAMILIES fear for their safety after Edinburgh’s controversial tram line was built just six feet from their front door.

Only a tiny, newly planted hedgerow separates their homes from track which will take trams to and from Edinburgh airport.

Parents fear children could wander on to the line – which has already become a makeshift cycle track for some youngsters – when the trams become operational next summer.

They have called for a fence to be built to protect the public and family pets from potentially disastrous collisions.

Single mum Lucy Allan, 27, said: “I’ve got two kids under five and we’re basically going to have trams in our garden.

“It’s outrageous. If I stumbled coming out the front door, I’d end up on the track.”

The concerns have been raised by residents of three modern blocks of flats in Balbirnie Place, beside the Haymarket to Murrayfield section of track in the west of the capital. It used to be dead ground.

Slightly further away, and on the other side of a fence, sits the main Edinburgh to Glasgow rail line.

But it’s the trams project, and accompanying construction work, which has angered owner- occupiers and housing association tenants.

Morag Colquhoun, 57, said: “Putting up with the construction racket was bad enough but people are now starting to think about safety issues.

“It won’t be safe when the kids want to play outside in the summer. There are already lots of kids coming down here at night to use the tram line as a cycle path.

“I can’t understand why we haven’t been offered any compensation.”

Dad-of-two Lucasz Grochola, 27, said the location of the line was “not safe”. He said: “I can’t trust my four-year-old daughter not to walk on the line.

“When I got the flat, I didn’t realise the line would be so close. I couldn’t believe it when they started work on it. There should at least be a fence to protect me and my children.”

James Mackie, 64, who has lived in his flat for 16 years, said: “They blocked off the rail line, why can they not do the same with the tram line?”

An Edinburgh City Council spokesman stressed that a tram is like a road vehicle and a driver can control the speed and brakes.

He added: “Unlike a train, the tram can reduce speed quickly, like other road vehicles, if the driver sees that people are too near the tracks.

“There will also be a barrier (the hedge) between the road and the tracks at this section. We’ve been in regular contact with residents and are always happy to discuss any concerns.”

He added that safe interaction with pedestrians would be a key part of the tram drivers’ training.